The Mets will try to even up the series when they play the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 7:10 PM matchup at Citi Field. Jon Niese (3-3, 2.70) will take the mound for the Mets and will oppose right-hander Edinson Volquez (2-4, 4.37) for the Bucs.

Vic Black is due to rejoin the Mets to replace Valverde. Black has flown from Las Vegas to New York to El Paso and now back to New York in the past three days.

Travis d’Arnaud went 0-for-4 as the DH in his second rehab game with Binghamton as he returns from a concussion. D’Arnaud is due to catch Tuesday for the B-Mets. He could be activated from the disabled list as soon as Wednesday.

Adam Rubin tweeted that Chris Young has clearly been benched regardless of how the team chooses to phrase it.

Starting Lineup

The Mets look to bounce back from a tough defeat on Monday when they take on the Pirates tonight. Yesterday, they lost 5-3 in the homecoming of Ike Davis who went 0-2 with a walk. On the other side, Lucas Duda had a couple of hits including a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. Today Edinson Volquez will take the mound for the Pirates as Jon Niese will start for the Mets.

Niese is 3-3 over 9 starts and 56.2 innings of work this season with a 2.70 ERA. In his last three starts he is 1-1 over 17.0 innings allowing 11 runs, 9 earned with a 4.76 ERA with 6 BB and 13 strikeouts. Last year he had an ugly start against the Pirates where he allowed 8 earned runs over 4.1 innings, 3 walks and struck out one. The Pirates have the following numbers against Niese:

Sanchez 5-21, 2B, HR

Barmes 5-14, 2B, HR

Martin 1-8, HR

McCutchen 4-8, 2 2B

Tabata 4-5, 2 2B

Walker 1-6

Volquez is 2-4 over 10 games and 9 starts and 55.2 innings with a 4.37 ERA in his first year with the Pirates. He had a rough start to May in the first three games allowing 14 earned runs over 16 innings. In his last outing he allowed 1 ER over 6.0 innings, which was shades of how he started out 2014. In his two games last year against the Mets he pitched 8.0 innings allowing 8 earned runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Volquez:

My name is Elliot and I’ve been writing the Game Preview posts at MMO since 2008. I am excited to be back sharing my thoughts with you. When I’m not watching the Mets, I’m a Physics Teacher in Newark, NJ and writing about the Mets at 213 Miles From Shea. LGM!

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